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February 07, 2013

UK's Virgin Holidays is in it for the Long Haul, Invests in IVR for Enhanced Operations

By Allison Boccamazzo, TMCnet Web Editor

Long-haul holidays mean flying far away– think Australia or Thailand – for vacation, work, etc. For many, taking a long-haul vacation is exciting and adventurous, and as of late, long-haul short breaks are gaining prominence among many. For example, traveling far for a weekend shopping trip or quick sight-see; yes, you’d have to be very comfortable financially to do so, but this happens more frequently than many think. Long-haul traveling is without a doubt popular, and so long-haul holiday companies need to keep up with this flow of operations and demand.

In light of this, Virgin Holidays, a U.K.-based long-haul holiday company, yesterday integrated interactive voice response (IVR) technology into its offerings to provide customers with an automated payment option to complete such things as booking holidays, adding excursions and making future payments through its customer service department, a statement explains.

The company was looking for three things: security, scalability and ease-of-use, which led it to investing in IVR technology to ensure successful and secure financial payments. Seeing how the company’s customer service department operates seven days a week and handles high volumes of inquiries at all times, the IVR system needed to be highly robust and reliable.

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The statement explains, “As the Virgin Holidays business grew, the organization decided to invest in new technology that could manage customer payments more efficiently and reduce the high cost associated with handling large volumes of credit and debit card payments manually in the contact center.”

Since deploying its new IVR automated payment solution, the company has already seen increased agent productivity and improved overall customer experience. Virgin Holidays is meeting its customers’ needs by providing them with 24-hour access to critical information such as account balance information that is constantly updated and accurate. Being able to track and monitor one’s finances is extremely important, which is exactly what this new IVR solution addresses.

Jessica Baker, operations analyst at Virgin Holidays concluded, “The automated payment solution…offers [the] high level of sophistication necessary to authenticate the caller, inform them of their outstanding balance and accept full or part payment without the need for agent intervention.”